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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Unfortunately, my very beat-up upright, although the pedal is there, does not support this feature.

I will practice using it anyway, and just imagine that the sound is changing. [/b]

On a really old 1900's upright my sister has (as a piece of furniture the left pedal actually operates as another sustain. On some upright pianos the una corda pedal moves the hammers slightly away from the strings instead of shifting over which can result in less hammer speed by the time the hammer reaches the strings.

This time it is me playing I Due Fiumi. This song (not this performance of it) was the first one I played for the ABF Recitals here. Along with that this was the second Einaudi song I learned how to play.

At this rate the only song that I can play that I don't have a video of is Limbo. Looks like I've got some learning to do.

I decided to record and post this one to give aw2pp some inspiration to keep playing the piece and hopefully we'll get to hear it someday. For all I know he'll keep it tucked away until the next recital.

I'm probably at a similar level of polish on IDF as I was with Ombre when I recorded it for my last recital. I haven't decided whether to use it for my recital entry next quarter, or something else. Part of me would rather post something a little shorter, and perhaps something that hasn't been submitted before. On the other hand, that doesn't leave me with many choices, assuming I stay with pieces from the Einaudi repertoire.

If I can grab some time this weekend, I'll grab a recording. Our flip cam is down... otherwise, it would be time to add to my Youtube channel (which, right now, consists merely of my shaky Limbo attempt from back in, egads, July.)

Trying out Melodia Africana II. The LH chord in measure 5 (and many times thereafter) is a pretty uncomfortable stretch for me. In these circumstances, is it allowable to move the highest note down an octave?

I've only sort of skimmed the sheet music for the song but I'm wondering if the right hand could help out with the notes in the bass clef in this case.

When the huge chord appears in the lower hand they have the treble clef with a g on a lower ledger line but with it marked up with an "underscore" as an ornament. I assume it would be hard to notate a chord for that right hand to play and only emphasize that g note.

I would have to figure out how playable measure 21 would be then. You still run up to playing that chord with the same notes ending measure 20 but then have to up a few more notes in 21 with the right hand.

Oh well, maybe someone else can come along and shed some light on the situation.

Chaplin
Full Member
Registered: 07/17/08
Posts: 30
Loc: the Netherlands

I can really use some help and advice about Limbo

There are obviously very dedicated Einaudi â€“experts here and Iâ€™m wondering whether it is possible to start a sort of â€˜question-cornerâ€™ as a guidance for the absolute (Einaudi) beginner. Maybe it is asked before, but I havenâ€™t read all the twenty something pages of this topic. (Sorry..)

Iâ€™ve started with Limbo and Iâ€™m ashamed to say that I in spite of all the practice I've made a complete mess of it! I just cannot get it right. I really thought that I should be able to learn it in due time, but itâ€™s a struggle all the way. Todayâ€™s practising was so frustrating then I ended up kicking my poor piano â€¦

I seriously hope you guys can throw me a life line and help me to clear some confusion.

About LIMBOMeasure 5 RH : I should play g bb g. No matter how I stretch, twist and turn I cannot reach it. ( I know Iâ€™ve got small hands; I can barely reach an octave).Q: Is there a general rule/advice which note (low or high g) can be left out? There are more stretches for me in this piece so I think I have to modify it a bit, in order to be able to play itâ€¦

Measure 23/24 RH: I play the phrase bb bb d bb bb d bb bb / g bb eb g Measure 23/24 LH: g d g / eb bb ebQ: Iâ€™m really wondering what Iâ€™m doing wrong, the sound that Iâ€™m making is not even close to the several YT vidâ€™s . Are the above mentioned notes the right notes? Should indeed the LH notes be played as block chords? Listening to examples on YT it seems that there is a sort of â€˜second melodyâ€™ in this part; which above mentioned notes do not seem to account for. Bit difficult to explain, hope I make any sense.

I hope that some of the Einaudi-experts (and compared to me you are all experts) can help me,

Have a nice day! from Chaplin

PS. English is not my first languageâ€¦

_________________________
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I â€”I took the 'one less traveled' by,And that has made all the difference.

Anthony, that was a lovely job on I due fiumi. You've really perfected it.

AWTPP, I've not played Melodia Africana II, so this is only an off the top of my head response after looking at the music and fiddling on the piano for a minute or two. A lot of times I'll try what Anthony suggests, which is to see if there is a way to enlist the right hand to help out. For measure 5, I don't think that would work well. The problem is that you have to emphasize that G in the right hand, and it would be hard (though not impossible) to do so while holding down the F right next to it with your thumb. So I think what I would do in this case is to drop the F down an octave and play the chord as D-F-C instead.

And now for Chaplin. You can play Limbo. If it's getting frustrating, just slow down and play it one measure at a time. Let's start with measure 5, RH. Maybe I'm not understanding your post, but there are only three notes in that right hand chord: the G below middle C, the B-flat below middle C, and then the G above middle C. [Edit: I think I understand now; when you write 'bb' you mean 'b-flat,' correct?] It's only an octave, so if you can reach an octave, you should be able to play it. I personally would encourage you to keep trying to reach that octave (piano music has a LOT of octaves in it), and over time your hand really WILL stretch. But if you absolutely can't play it, I'd drop the lowest right hand G in that measure.

As for a general rule, the most general rule I know of is "use whatever sounds best." I've heard that it's often the most important to preserve the root of the chord. Sometimes it will work to drop one of the notes down an octave (as in the advice given to AWTPP); sometimes you can just leave a note out entirely. Experiment and see what sounds best to your ears.

As for measures 23 and 24, those are the right notes (assuming the second 'b' is a flat). Do you have a videocamera? Is there a way you can post just those measures so we can see what you're doing? I'm guessing you've got the notes right and just are having a problem getting the rhythm down. Try slowing it waaaaaayyy down and counting. And, yes, the left hand chords are intended to be played as a single (block) chord.

Are you pedaling while you play those chords? It will sound better pedaled and might give the impression of that second melody you're talking about.

Chaplin
Full Member
Registered: 07/17/08
Posts: 30
Loc: the Netherlands

Thanks Monica for your encouraging words!And yes the additional 'b' indeed means 'flat'. Sorry I thought it was a common way to write it, but is probably only so in my country.

About the octave stretch in g bb g; I do try, both g's I can barely manage but then my hand is almost flat on the keyboard and therefore it is not (yet?) possible for me to hit the bb also. But I will practice, so thank you.

M. 23/24 Now you've confirmed that I do have the right notes, I think it must be a rhythm problem. I guess/hope the same recipe eventually will do the trick: so I'll try some more practice.

Thank you very much, amongst other things today I also really started doubting my (poor) sight reading abilities.

Kind regardsfrom Chaplin

_________________________
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I â€”I took the 'one less traveled' by,And that has made all the difference.

Also remember that the first Bb comes before the chord kicks in. The first one starts over in measure 22. As Monica stated for these measures I use the sustain to hold the chord and release it and press down again for the next chord.

I just took a bit of time to make short video of those measures played slowly so maybe you can learn something from it.

I didn't feel like posting it to youtube at the moment, so see if you can download it from box.net and take a look that way. (That would be easier for watching as needed anyway.)

Chaplin
Full Member
Registered: 07/17/08
Posts: 30
Loc: the Netherlands

Thanks Anthony, I can certainly learn something from it; makes it a lot easier to catch the rhythm.

Initially I was a bit confused, because you've mentioned 'video' and 'watching' and the clip I've downloaded was audio. I absolutely don't mean to sound ungrateful, just wondered whether this was all right. (I'm not only piano dumb but also technical stuff stupid ) At first I thought there was something wrong with QT and the firewall, but after adjusting some settings nothing changed, so I guess it is meant to be an audio file.

Thanks again, I appreciate your help.

Iâ€™m off to practise!Have a nice X-masfrom Chaplin

_________________________
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I â€”I took the 'one less traveled' by,And that has made all the difference.

I had that exact same problem myself. My solution was to raise the D one octave - playing it with my thumb - and lower the F one octave - playing it with my pinky - , essentially having them switch places in the formation of the chord. Not only are you playing the same notes, but it makes a very, very smooth transition to and from the chords around it.

What is sacrificed is the bass-ness of that low D. But I'd much rather be able to play it!

If, somehow, I can afford pinky extension surgery, I'll play the correct chord.

I had that exact same problem myself. My solution was to raise the D one octave - playing it with my thumb - and lower the F one octave - playing it with my pinky - , essentially having them switch places in the formation of the chord. Not only are you playing the same notes, but it makes a very, very smooth transition to and from the chords around it.

What is sacrificed is the bass-ness of that low D. But I'd much rather be able to play it!

Those of you who met Ludovico before (Josh, Anthony, etc.)... are his hands that large? I'm a pretty big person, but can barely make the reach when and if that is all I am concentrating on. I can't imagine being able to do that at any sort of tempo.

aw2pp: Maybe you should ask about that chord over on the Einaudi forums as well. Josh or the others would have a better chance to see it and maybe comment on it.

Ludovico Einaudi is actually shorter than I am and I'm not all that tall myself. I don't know exactly how this relates to hand size but I didn't take pictures of his hand with mine as a reference, sorry.

A PW member kindly brought it to my attention that I had been playing a note in "Nefeli" wrong (and a rather important note at that ). I double-checked the sheet music and confirmed that I had in fact been playing it wrong all these years. (That's the big downside of memorizing quickly and then not looking at the music again...)

Shucks. THAT wouldn't do. And since Nefeli had been one of the first pieces I had recorded with my Zoom when I got it a couple of years ago, I figured it could stand to be recorded again. So here in all its glory, is my latest version of "Nefeli," this time with more of the right notes. (There is one misplayed note, but it's more subtle and at least this time I *knew* it was misplayed!)

Originally posted by Monica K.: A PW member kindly brought it to my attention that I had been playing a note in "Nefeli" wrong (and a rather important note at that ). I double-checked the sheet music and confirmed that I had in fact been playing it wrong all these years. (That's the big downside of memorizing quickly and then not looking at the music again...)

Shucks. THAT wouldn't do. And since Nefeli had been one of the first pieces I had recorded with my Zoom when I got it a couple of years ago, I figured it could stand to be recorded again. So here in all its glory, is my latest version of "Nefeli," this time with more of the right notes. (There is one misplayed note, but it's more subtle and at least this time I *knew* it was misplayed!)

I should try my hand at coding a midi utility that can compare a performance from my digital piano to a midi file that I get generated when I typeset music in order to print it out. I've done that for a few of the Einaudi pieces since that book is a pain to deal with and it is difficult to scan the pages as well. Plus, when I typeset it myself it forces me to read it before playing which helps me when I get over to the piano.

Anybody playing Quel Che Resta? So far, it's my favorite Einaudi piece, but it seems relatively unpopular for some reason. I like how moody it is.

Anyway, I have a question: what does everyone think the right tempo is? I like a moderate Allegro, 135-150 bpm or something like that. I've heard a lot of people play it very, very quickly, and I feel that's missing the point. I haven't actually heard a recording of Einaudi himself playing it.

There are a lot of tasty, crunchy dissonances in this piece, and I feel that if you play the notes too fast, you lose the ability to savor them. Any thoughts?

Originally posted by JoseHeno: Anybody playing Quel Che Resta? So far, it's my favorite Einaudi piece, but it seems relatively unpopular for some reason. I like how moody it is.

Anyway, I have a question: what does everyone think the right tempo is? I like a moderate Allegro, 135-150 bpm or something like that. I've heard a lot of people play it very, very quickly, and I feel that's missing the point. I haven't actually heard a recording of Einaudi himself playing it.

There are a lot of tasty, crunchy dissonances in this piece, and I feel that if you play the notes too fast, you lose the ability to savor them. Any thoughts? [/b]

YES! I'm glad you brought this piece up because I learned it myself and also wondered why nobody else has mentioned/recorded the piece before. It's a fantastic piece in my opinion.

With the tempo, I tend to play it similar to the Einaudi recording, whatever that is played at. I haven't heard the youtube recordings, so I don't know how fast others play it.

I also use pauses between the seperate musical phrases. I will record this one soon.

I seem to have settled on 152 bpm. I agree that to really be "Scorrevole" - giving a sense of flowing or gliding - it can't be too pokey. But 152 isn't so fast that you miss out on the coloring. I wish I had the ability to record!

My sister turned on the radio this morning. My (amazingly adorable) three year old nephew stated he did not want to listen to what came on. Instead, he wanted to listen to his uncle Tony play piano. Of course, what he meant was that he wanted to hear the Einaudi CD that was in the radio.

One day I hope to sound as good as an Einaudi CD. But at least he knows what type of music I play.

Anyone know which key "I due fiumi" is in? I saw a few postings earlier in this thread regarding this, but no definitive answer.

It looks like the piece is laid out nicely in 8 bar phrases, where each phrase ends with a G chord. Most of the times, the G is preceded by a C chord. Also, the song ends on a G. However, the key signature has no sharps/flats.

Could this be a mode starting on the fifth note of the C major scale, i.e. the tonic chord is G? If so, the end of each phrase (C followed by G) would form a plagal cadence (IV-I).

There was an answer to that question, buried somewhere in here. Apparently it starts off in C but then wanders into G (although with no change in key signature). I think you're right about it being some kind of mode thing. I'd love to hear a definitive answer.

"I asked her today, and she said its in C but changes to G in some spots and some other stuff that was over my head...lol"

However, each 8 bar phrase starts and ends with similar chords - starts with F, ends with C followed by G. It repeats throughout the piece, so it doesn't seem like there's any modulation. The piece also doesn't appear to be in the key of C or Am since the phrases and song end in G.